Member Article

£2 million Harrogate redevelopment by the Duchy of Lancaster nears completion

The Duchy of Lancaster’s sustainable residential development in Harrogate has ‘topped out’ and remains on target for completion later this summer.

The Duchy of Lancaster has invested £2 million in the project and has named the buildings Granville House and Villiers House, in honour of renowned 19th century Duchy Chancellors, Sir Granville George Leveson-Gower and George Villiers.

11 Ripon Road, which is owned and managed by the Queen’s Estate, is being converted from office space to house four apartments, while a new build on the site will offer nine apartments available to let later this year.

Exterior building work is now finished, with interior work set to run until August, when contractor Harris Construction Management will hand over to the Duchy.

Nathan Thompson, chief executive of the Duchy of Lancaster, said: “We wanted to acknowledge those at the Duchy who have been responsible for much of the development of Harrogate. Lord Granville and George Villiers were great champions for the town so naming these buildings in their honour seemed very appropriate.

“The Duchy of Lancaster worked closely with Wildblood Macdonald Architects to ensure that the exterior of Granville House retained as much of its original character as possible and that the design of Villiers House was sympathetic to the neighbouring Victorian buildings.

Jenny Booth from Wetherby-based architects Wildblood Macdonald said Granville House had been thoroughly upgraded to give it significantly better energy efficiency.

Granville (3,850 sq ft) and Villiers House (6,450 sq ft) are both set across three storeys and combined will offer 12 two-bedroom apartments and one one-bedroom apartment.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Clare Burnett .